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Chapter 10: Meeting Your Neighbours
🕑 Added 2024-07-01 15:31:16 +0000 UTCWell, it was a smut scene for like 90% of the last chapter, and this will be none of that because our cast are now officially U.A. students. So no horny times…for now; instead, we focus on hero stuff. Also, once more, I got ideas for another story; I won't say what it is as I'm already juggling 5 active stuff right now. But with my Original work, I do ask that you see it; the first two chapters should be up.
“Text” – Normal speech
‘Text’ - Thought
“Text” – Radio/Communication lines
“Text” – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 10: Meeting Your Neighbours
“You’ll call every few days?” Inko, a world-renowned quirk researcher, Midoriya looked nothing of what she looked like when meeting with clients or investors or when she would typically be out for a public event. Now, she was her true self, worried to death for her son.
Both she and Izuku knew that her worry wasn't founded on anything serious. After all, this wasn't him undertaking a dangerous quirk spirit hunt; it was much more common for any household: Him packing his bags to go off to college as while their apartment wasn't too far from U.A. that couldn't take the train, he wished to have a taste of life outside his mother's roof. It was perfectly normal, yet that didn't stop a mother worrying.
"Yes, Mom." Izuku replied as the two stood at the curb for their apartment. The moving van was behind him, with Yuga in the driver's seat, waiting for the two to finish their goodbye.
"And remember to prepare our own food, not just buy take-out?" Inko reminded him, and Izuku nodded along with her.
"Yes, Mom." He replied. He figured most places wouldn't have options to accommodate his and Yuga's unique palates. He checked his backpack, the last of his bags, as the rest had already been loaded into the van, like Yuga's stuff.
“And keep your new place clean?” Inko's questions were getting unreasonable now, as he would be the first to admit that his room had an ungodly amount of hero merch, so much so that Saiko, in the beginning, all but demanded they take it down before they banged since she couldn't keep that mindset when All Might's face was all around her. But he was never dirty, as he kept his personal space as clean as a whistle.
“We won’t live in a barn, mom.”
“And not get distracted by girls and booze?” He spluttered at the question, turning to his mother, his face red.
“Mom!”
“It’s a legitimate question.” She tapped her foot on the floor, raising an eyebrow and daring him to counter her. He wasn't a virgin, and she was aware of that; she had once walked him and his girlfriend when they were dumb enough to get busy in the living room.
“Wh-no!” He floundered momentarily, only regaining some composure as he heard Yuga laughing from the van at his misery. “I don’t even drink.”
“Neither did I before college. It’s a place for new experiences away from your parents.” She took his hands into her own, the woman smiling as she looked at her baby boy, on the cusp of manhood. She could still recall when they played hero together when she would drop him at daycare, sing him to sleep, or hold him when there was a thunderstorm.
Looking at him now, he was every bit the person she wished he would be. Her hands were tiny compared to his, but he held them carefully. He was far taller and bulkier than her, yet she never felt threatened. Pulling him in for a hug, she displayed some of that mother's strength as Izuku could swear he was crushing him.
"I'm not saying to be a stick in the mud and not have fun, just…try and be responsible about it? The last thing I want to hear is if you got some other girl pregnant before Saiko and can't even remember the event." She giggled as she felt his embarrassment.
Hugging her back, he raced into the van, waving at her as Yuga pulled away from the curb. “Love you too, mom!” She waved back at him, but her smile was now much more teasing, making it clear that when they next saw each other, she'd be embarrassed even if he had friends over.
Sighing, he relaxed into his seat, putting on his seatbelt without much thought as he turned to Yuga. “Not a word.”
His friend didn’t give him much mercy. "How about a no? Besides, it's not so bad. Your mother didn't pack you stuff meant for kids going for a sleepover." He pointed a thumb towards the back, as his father had been the emotional one with him, the man crying as he packed his room and the other stuff they got for their new apartment.
"Still, we're training to be heroes; you'll think they'll have more faith in us," Midoriya said. The two were silent for a few seconds before they broke out in laughter.
Wiping a tear from his eye, Yuga continued to laugh. "Good one! As if hero students aren't crazy! I remember reading about the 'Roppongi incident’ when Edgeshot and Jeanist were students.” Oh, that had been a fun interview to watch back in their 2nd year of high school, as it was one of the few times the typically calm and collected two top heroes had been so flat-footed and self-conscious. The things those two and their class did…
"I'm pretty sure U.A. students are still banned from, like, half the clubs in that area," Midoriya noted as they pulled up to a red light.
"Well, if not, we can always find somewhere to have fun outside class, perhaps meet some girls." Yuga shrugged his shoulders, and Izuku gave him an unamused glance.
“You’re not defeating the whole French stereotype, you know.” Izuku had been steady with Saiko for a while since their final semester of 1st year. Yuga, on the other hand, had a total of 11 different girlfriends. However, Izuku would have better classed 3 of them as friends with benefits.
Turning his head to him, Yuga flashed a smug smile. "And when did I say I wanted to? You've seen me bring a wine glass for lunch since middle school and know that my cheese knowledge is second to none." He focused back on the road.
Izuku rolled his eyes but felt minor irritation toward Yuga. As if nothing else, he helped make things bizarre and exciting. “Just don’t start smoking in our apartment and spending your days mocking the British and Americans.”
“I make no such promises.”
Line Break
An hour's drive later, they arrived in the town of Musutafu. Like towns around European universities, it was a college city that had once been a small fishing village. But 70 years ago, when U.A. set up shop here, away from the traffic and noise of Tokyo, the people and tens of billions of yen of investment followed. Because of that, most people who lived here had some job related to U.A. or the businesses that relayed on the school.
Though, for Izuku, being here wasn't as crucial as for Yuga. He had been born and lived here for a time before his mother got that post in I-island sometime after his 4th birthday. When they returned when he was 6, they lived in the area another year before they packed up and moved again, as his mother's new job paid a much higher salary. She wanted to be closer to it.
As they drove down the streets toward their new apartment, he wondered if he should visit those old spots and try to find the kids-adults he once knew. Hell, even see if his kindergarten teacher was still around and remembered him. His trip down memory lane ended when he felt the van come to a stop. Unbuckling himself, he and Yuga exited the van to look up towards the building, a relatively modest 5-floor complex with a good garden and even an area to park cars and motorcycles if students had them.
“Here we are, our new home for the next year.” Yuga took a breath, releasing it with a happy sigh, as Izuku’s mood was also pretty high.
“Yup, so let’s start unpacking.” He replied as he moved towards the back of the van while Yuga went to see the building manager so they could get their keys. As he waited, he saw other vans or even trucks in the parking lot, with new tenants like them unloading their stuff, most in teams of 2, which made sense, as these apartments were all 2-bedrooms. U.A. had places for single occupants, but that was a different building.
Hell, according to the brochures about the school, their student accommodations were separated into three groupings regardless of whether they were single or double occupancy: Bronze, Silver, or Gold, with Gold being the best and Bronze being the worst. That didn't mean that bronze was terrible, as U.A. was still a top university, and they ensured that landlords they contracted ensured that even bronze student accommodations were comfortable and up to code.
It was weird that only the gold buildings were separated by gender. As for the rest, no such barrier existed, as men and women could even share the same apartment, a fact he saw play out in front of him. He saw a small brown-haired girl passing some heavier stuff off the back of their van and handing it to her roommate, a pretty large and muscular-looking guy with a glue-dispenser-shaped head, a heteromorph then.
Again, his musings were interrupted when Yuga returned, keys in hand. “We’re on the 4th floor, apartment 27." Yuga held up two key sets, passing one to Izuku, who pocketed it.
"Let's hope the elevator doesn't have a long line, as I'm not carrying our beds up three flights of stairs." He got up from where he had been leaning on the van and opened it, revealing that the entire back was packed with their stuff. Their bedroom stuff was close to the back and, sadly, the easiest to unload.
"Then how about we start with the smaller things? If we're lucky, we can finish in time for some shopping." Yuga replied as he jumped inside and grabbed the first thing he could, an older microwave his parents had set aside for him. Passing it to Izuku, he grabbed the much heavier coffee machine and climbed down. Closing the van, the two made their way into the complex.
As Izuku feared, one of the three elevators was down for maintenance, increasing traffic at the other two. But the stairs were more accessible, giving them quick access to their apartment. They found that the silver-ranked accommodation was exceptional, comparable to the Midoriya residence.
The living room area was attached to the kitchen, which had a fridge already waiting for them, and the stove looked brand new; going down the short hallway, they found a closet, the bathroom, and both their bedrooms, all of which were as clean as a whistle and empty as the previous occupants had been moved to 2nd-year dorms. Closer inspection found that the bathroom was also the laundry room, with the balcony, which both the kitchen and their bedrooms could access, having a clothing line to hang anything.
Having placed the two appliances in suitable spots in the kitchen, they returned to get the rest, repeating the process repeatedly as they slowly moved their stuff in and carrying in boxes carrying more minor stuff they bundled together. But the time soon came for the more significant stuff. While carrying up their TV and other electronics was easy enough, they soon found themselves in the dilemma of things like desks, tables, and even their beds and mattresses.
“Yo!” They turned to see a group of four approaching them. The one who led them was a taller, muscular guy with messy gray hair, dramatically inward-tilted black eyes with thick, jagged tan lashes, and no notable eyebrows. "I saw you guys moving stuff to the 4th floor. What's your apartment number?" Speaking again, the two could see that he had sharp, pointed teeth, almost like a shark.
"27," Yuga replied, and the newcomer smiled up, pumping his fist.
"Awesome, we're apartment 28, and they're 26. Name's Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu.” He pointed to themselves and to the other two that were with them, one of the latter being an utterly invisible girl, leaving just her clothes to be seen; those happened to be a pink kitty hoodie, red shirt with puppy's face on it and a blue shirt and glitter covered flats.
“Didn’t you-” Izuku focused less on that and more on the fact the guy seemed to repeat himself.
Tetsutetsu raised his hand, stopping him. "My names sound the same but are spelled differently. Anyway, the elevators are still waiting, so why don't we help each other carry the heavier stuff up?" He used to get angry about that, but as much as it annoyed him, it was a good question. So he focused on something that could be solved without a legal name change and offered his hand to Midoriya.
A hand which he took, noting that the taller boy had quite the grip. It made sense when he was as tall as he was, as Midoriya was sure he had at least 10cm on him. “Midoriya Izuku, and that seems like a good idea. More hands lessen the load and all that.”
One of the other guys stepped forward; he was around Yuga's height but didn't have as lean a frame as his French friend. His short blond hair was also a different shade and styled more casually. But what stuck out the most was the large tail that the guy had, one that ended with a hairy tip, the same shade as his other hair. “Ojiro Mashirao. Why don’t we start with your place first? Isn't it the furthest in?" He pointed towards the van, another van, one that presumably held their stuff.
One of the other guys, who was by far the tallest in the group, who must have been well over 190cm, shrugged. “Kamakiri Togaru, and sure.” Locking their van’s back door behind them, Izuku and Yuga followed the group, with Izuku studying this third person. Midoriya only took slight offense to their height, meaning he was the shortest guy of the six. Kamakiri was also built more like a basketball player than Ojiro, who looked lean.
Like Ojiro, he was a heteromorph, but where the former just had the tail, Kamakiri very much had the formally unhuman look with pale yellowish-green skin, downward pointed dark eyes that went towards the center of his face, as well as the two hooked blades that jutted out from either of his cheeks and no visible nose. In fact, his head was shaped like an insect with mandibles. However, if there was one thing he shared with him, it was hair, as they both had green hair, even if the taller man’s was a bright, fluffy one styled into a mohawk.
Reaching the van, Kamakiri unlocked it, showcasing just his own stuff. Tetsutetsu was in another van, as they didn't arrive together like Midoriya and Aoyama. Jumping in, he followed Tetsutetsu, Ojiro, and Midoriya as they started to lift the bed frame and mattress off. As they did that, Yuga decided to do his own thing, turning to the sole girl present.
Gently grasping her hand, he bowed and kissed her knuckles like a gentleman would. “Aoyama Yuga, at your service, my lady.”
The visible girl giggled at his performance, finding it endearing, if not amusing. “Hagakure Toru, and watch it, mister. I’m not an easy girl to please.” It was only thanks to her hoodie’s sleeve that they could tell she was waving her other hand at him.
Letting go, Aoyama didn’t let that stop him. “Well, that will make the chase all the more rewarding.”
"Yuga, if you can, stop trying to get into her pants and help!" Midoriya yelled at him as he balanced the mattress, keeping it from dropping onto the floor. Kamakiri gave the flirty blonde the stick-eye.
“Can’t a man be cordial to a lovely lady without having an interior motive, my friend?” Yuga asked, getting a giggle from Hagakure but a tired sigh from Ojiro.
“A man? Sure, but you?” Izuku would have pointed if his hands were free as Yuga finally stepped forward to receive the load. “Shall I bring up the Kyushu affair?”
He nearly dropped it as he blushed, glaring at Izuku, who met his gaze smugly. “You were sworn to secrecy!”
“Around your parents, I don’t recall promising not to tell others about your adventures with the fairer sex.” He replied as he exited the van, carrying one side of the mattress. He was quickly followed by Kamakiri and Ojiro, who had the bed frame, and Tetsutetsu, who was easily carrying a heavy-looking desk.
"Oh, really? Well, don't keep us waiting; do tell." Hagakure laughed at Aoyama’s mortified face as she got inside the van and grabbed some boxes to help get things out faster.
“Izuku, if you say anything, I will tear up all your All Might posters.” Yuga looked Midoriya dead in the eye, ensuring that he knew damn well he was serious about that. Though their moving party had no clue what he had said.
“On second thought, maybe later.” Midoriya’s response did make the implied threat all the more likely, but the topic was dropped as they carried the stuff away.
Line Break
“And done! That’s the last of it!” Tetsutetsu laughed as he put the last box near the hall leading to his and Kamakiri’s rooms, the rest lounging about their living room.
“That was more stuff than I thought it would be," Hagakure stated; for boys, the two sure packed a lot of stuff. Clearly, they wanted their place to feel as homey as possible.
"Especially the weights, dude, U.A. has a gym." Kamakiri pointed towards the corner, where they had set aside some of the heaviest boxes, their weight because Tetsutetsu had decided to bring what felt like an entire gym’s worth of weights and bars.
Tetsutetsu didn't even look guilty about it; he certainly didn't when he opened the back of his van and revealed the stuff. “Sometimes, I want to pump some iron at home, or the gym could be closed.”
"Still, you had literal exercise machines that you still need to assemble; what the fuck?" Midoriya asked, as he was a fitness nut, but he didn't bring anything more than a casual person would have. U.A. had more than enough stuff on site; if not, he was sure there were gyms in town.
“It’ll be fun to put those together. I used to do it all the time growing up.” The group rolled their eyes or groaned at how Tetsutetsu didn’t seem to hear their complaints.
Drinking some water, Hagakure changed the topic. “Well, my stuff wasn’t so bad, was it?” Midoriya thought back to her stuff, and while she didn’t have much stuff that was too heavy outside what was expected, like a drawer and bed, there was a unifying theme for all of it.
“There was a lot of…pink.” That was all he could call it, with Ojiro nodding.
“Very girly.” Ojiro agreed, even if he felt slightly embarrassed to see a girl's room like that.
"Gee, I wonder why." Hagakure's reply was thick with sarcasm before her stomach grumbled, and she instantly covered it with her other hand. If they could see her face, they imagined she would be blushing. “Anyway, you guys wanna order something to eat? I’m too tired to cook something right now.”
Looking at the clock they had put on the wall, they saw that it was going to 5, almost 3 hours since they got there, and started to unload stuff. “I’m down.” Tetsutetsu agreed with her, but Midoriya, remembering his mother’s words, raised his hand.
"I can cook; we just need to pass by the store and get supplies, as I don't think any of us brought food." He offered an alternative.
"It'll be healthier to have a home…well, dorm-cooked meal than ordering fast food." Again, Ojiro sided with him.
“Fine, I’ll get my greasy burger fix some other time," Hagakure replied as she got up and reached for the door. "We'll meet in the lobby in 20, and I want to shower first." She waved at them as she left, with Kamakiri lifting his arm to smell his armpit, only to recoil in disgust.
"Damn! I didn't even notice; catch you guys later." He forced the remaining people out of his and Tetsutetsu’s apartment, slamming the door on them so he could take a shower. The three outside waved as they turned to enter their respective doors, Aoyama rushing in first. He couldn't believe he subjected a lady to his BO, forcing Midoriya to wait for him to finish.
Line Break
Sometime later, the group of 6 had settled in for the evening in Ojiro and Hagakure's place; as promised, they had gone out and bought groceries for their places, after which Ojiro and Midoriya had made dinner for them. While they had continued to converse, it was mainly light topics. "Hey, I just realized something," Midoriya noted.
“What’s that?” Tetsutetsu asked, currently on his second serving of rice and curry.
"Like, we know each other's names and what our apartments look like, by the way, Ojiro," He turned to the tailed boy, who looked just a little embarrassed that his room had been so…basic; it was like he picked the most generic stuff. “Really, you can do better to style your place.” Aoyama nodded, even if his room was the opposite, having been styled to be as dazzling as possible.
“It’s not that bad.” Ojiro defended himself, but they paid it no heed.
"Moving on, I realized that we did all that and are sharing a delicious meal, and we don't even know which course we're taking," Midoriya explained, which made that apparent to the rest as they knew names and how they liked to decorate, but not much else.
"Now that you bring it up, we didn't talk about that, did we? Well, we can fix that easily. Kamakiri and I are in the hero course.” Tetsutetsu pointed to himself and Kamakiri with his chopsticks, the mohawk-haired boy nodding as he drank his water.
"Same here," Hagakure replied,
"Diddo," Ojiro added, which left Midoriya pleasantly surprised, as the dorms might have been separated by how much one paid for it. However, as far as he knew, there was no distinction between courses. For all he knew, the rest of their neighbors were in support, business, or one of the general courses.
“What the heck, what are the odds of that?” Midoriya mused, chewing on that with some rice before swallowing and addressing them with a smile. “So, we’ll be seeing each other in class tomorrow?”
“For the mandatory stuff, maybe. Any of you figured out which electives you’ll take?” Kamakiri asked, leading to another change. U.A. practiced a type of schooling where, outside mandatory classes, students could freely pick whichever other class they wished to do their year.
Of course, that didn’t mean students had to take them, as one could pass with just the mandatory, giving themselves 3 periods of free time every day, but that would just make it more complicated going forward as some of the stuff taught in electives could come up later in a mandatory class in 2nd and 3rd year. Even if not, the U.A. encouraged its students to give it 110%, so just leaving a period free felt weird.
"Not yet. I have some favorites, but I'll wait maybe a week, ask around, or sit in on one or two before deciding." Tetsutetsu replied.
"I was thinking of taking a language class and picking up Korean to balance out the fact I already know English and French," Aoyama smirked, only for Midoriya to nudge him.
"Don't be so confident. Last I checked, your English is barely passable." The Frenchman turned to his friend, his smirk still on his face, but the way his brow was creased told Izuku enough of how irritated he was.
“French is the superior language! If I can converse with English speakers, that’s enough.” He countered, to which Midoriya laughed.
“Sure, if they can understand your broken sentences and misused words.” Hagakure and Kamakiri laughed at the little show they were getting with their dinner.
Hagakure decided to try to bail Aoyama out of a bad situation. “I was probably gonna take a language class, with maybe public relations." She wasn’t a strong fighter—the exam made that clear—but she could shine in other areas. She was pretty good at reading people and navigating social interactions. If she could improve her English and polish her public speaking, it could go a long way.
"Definitely P.E. I mean, they'll teach us the basis as mandatory, so you might as well maximise what you're good at first and move into other stuff." Kamakiri replied, as his issue was the opposite to Hagakure: He was a battle type. He wouldn't call himself a meathead, not when he had to pass U.A.'s infamous written exam, but he was a man of action over words. He'll be the type of hero who focused more on capturing villains than anything else.
"Well, I already have work-out days set aside, so I considered taking detective classes and police relations. I'm still stuck between hero agency basis or leadership and management." Midoriya replied that as much as he idolized All Might, he couldn't come close to the kind of pro he was, at least not now. Besides, All Might was known to have a great dynamic with law enforcement, so why not start there?
"You're aiming to be the kind of hero that spends much time with cops?" Kamakiri asked him, to which he shrugged.
"Not really; I just figure it would be good to improve my detective skills; you never know when someone you see or hear in a fight could be important. And it can't hurt to learn how to build bridges." Sure, cops and pros had different jobs but needed each other. Being like those pros who focused more on the limelight or mistreated police because they weren't recognized as highly as they just seemed disrespectful.
Tetsutetsu groaned, getting their attention as he got up. "Alright, that's enough talk about school shit, I say we relax before hitting the sack. I saw Hagakure had some games. What should I play?" He pointed towards the small TV with a gaming system plugged in with a couple consoles. Like everything Hagakure owned, he was covered with stickers, cats, and glitter.
“You’re bold to challenge me to Mario Kart 11 Deluxe, for I have never known defeat.” Hagakure got up, her tone implying she was smirking towards Tetsutetsu, who slammed his fists together at the response.
“First time for everything.”
And we'll end things there. It's not what I thought it would be. Still, when I started writing, it felt like a good thing to set up, rather than just saying this later on as exposition, which I'm pretty sure most wouldn't even notice or just groan at having to read.
